George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt

by Lucy Hawking

  “Reeper, why have you brought us here?” demanded Eric. “It was you, wasn’t it, who left those clues?”

  “Indeed it was.” Reeper sighed. “At last! You guessed. It took a while though. We’ve been sending messages to Cosmos for ages. We began to think you would never take the bait. It’s not like you to be so slow. And yes, before you ask, it was me playing games with your lovely little robot, Homer. Pooky interrupted him on the descent and managed to tamper with his programming. I thought you’d have to notice Homer. But no. Even that took ages. You’ve been terribly amateur, Eric. I expected better from you.”

  “It wasn’t Eric!” George stepped forward angrily. “It was us! We were the ones who read the clues and came after you.”

  “Oh, the boy wonder,” said Reeper. “Eric’s mini-me. Another disciple—how tiring.”

  “Step back, George,” warned Eric. “And keep trying Cosmos. I don’t believe that nano-computer is as powerful as Reeper says.”

  Reeper laughed, a horrible grating sound. “You think you’re very clever, don’t you, Eric? Looking for signs of life in the Universe. But you’re not as clever as me. That’s why I brought you here. Finally to prove that to you.”

  “Prove what?” Eric snorted. “You’re proving nothing right now, Reeper. Only that we were right to keep you away from Cosmos all those years ago.”

  “Always the saint.” Reeper sneered back again. “Wanting scientific knowledge to benefit humanity. How have you benefited humanity, Eric? Isn’t your precious human race in the process of destroying the beautiful planet it lives on? Why not just help people achieve their goal faster—get rid of Earth and all those morons on it and start again? Somewhere like here. A new planet. This is what I lured you out here to see, Eric. I’ve completed your mission. I’ve found a place where life might begin—a place where intelligent life could thrive. Where, in fact, simple life could already be present.” He held up a clear vial of liquid. “I’ve found this,” he said. “The elixir of life.”

  “You don’t know that’s water!” said Eric. “You don’t know what that is.”

  “I do know that whatever it is, I found it before you. Me, not you, Eric. I found the new planet Earth. I own it, and I control access to it. And when the Earth finally goes boom! I will be in charge of the whole human race as well.”

  The cosmic hamster’s eyes were now glowing like a burning furnace. It scrabbled excitedly as Reeper spoke.

  Eric shook his head. “Reeper,” he said sadly, “you are such a loser.”

  Reeper howled. “I am not a loser!” he said angrily. “I am winning!”

  “No, you’re not,” said Eric. “So you don’t like humanity? So you think we’ve made a mess of the planet? So you’d prefer to keep all your scientific knowledge to yourself, not share it with anyone else, and perhaps charge people lots of money for the use of it? That makes you a total loser. You’ve cut yourself off from everything that is good or useful or interesting or beautiful—from everything human, in fact. I mean, look at your version of Cosmos. It’s disgusting. And I think Pooky is molting.”

  Pooky looked outraged. Reeper rocked backward and forward on his space boots in fury.

  Behind Eric, Annie was giving George a countdown, using the fingers of her space gloves. Silently she counted down: Five, four, three, two, ONE! When she got to one, the two kids charged forward, heads lowered, and butted Reeper in the stomach with their space helmets.

  George snatched Pooky and dashed away while Annie gave Reeper a swift kick in the stomach. Unbalanced by the sudden attack, Reeper fell backward and lay groaning on the ground, looking like an upturned stag beetle. The vial of liquid flew out of his hand and smashed on a rock, the clear liquid seeping away. Eric ran over and put one heavy boot on Reeper’s chest.

  “Graham,” he said, “this isn’t why we went into science. We went into science because it’s fascinating and exciting, because we wanted to explore the Universe and find out the secrets it holds. We wanted to understand, to know, to comprehend, to write another chapter in the story of humanity’s search for knowledge. We are part of a great tradition, using the work of those who went before to help us progress farther and yet farther across this amazing Universe in which we live. And to understand why we are here and how it all began. That’s what we do, Graham. We bring enlightenment by sharing our knowledge. We don’t keep it to ourselves. We explain, we teach, we seek. We move humanity forward by sharing the secrets we uncover. We aim to create a better world, on whatever planet we live, rather than finding a new world and keeping that planet all to ourselves.”

  But Reeper didn’t seem to care. “Give back Pooky,” he rasped. “He’s mine. You stole Cosmos from me once. Don’t take Pooky now. I can’t live without him.”

  “Pooky is only a tool,” said Eric. “Just like Cosmos.”

  “No! It’s not fair!” ranted Reeper. “You only say that because you have Cosmos! And you don’t even need him! You can understand the Universe! I don’t! That’s why I wanted Cosmos, Eric. You’ll never know what it’s like! You’ve always been a genius—you don’t know what it’s like to be ordinary. Like me.” He started sobbing.

  George was struggling to hold on to Pooky. “I don’t know how to turn him off!” he said to Annie.

  “You’ve got to stroke his head,” she said. “Like Reeper was doing. That’s where his control panel must be.”

  “I can’t!” said George. “I’ll lose him—he’s trying to escape! You do it!”

  “Eeew!” said Annie, taking a cautious step toward him. She reached out a finger and Pooky promptly bit her. She snatched her hand back. The horrible creature hadn’t pierced the space glove, so Annie was still safely sealed into her suit. She moved forward again, and this time waved one hand at Pooky. While he was watching that hand, she used the other to touch his head. She rubbed hard….

  The next second they heard Emmett’s voice once more.

  “Annie! George! Eric!” he said. “I haven’t been able to get through!”

  “Open the portal, quickly,” said George. “We’re coming back.”

  Emmett sounded frantic. “Cosmos doesn’t have enough memory,” he said. “He needs help. He needs another computer to join up with him to get you back.”

  “Another computer!” said George. “Where are we going to get another computer? We’re on a moon orbiting a planet forty-one light-years away! It’s not like they have stores here.”

  Then the same thought struck George, Annie, and Eric at the same time.

  “Pooky!”

  Chapter 17

  Reeper was still lying underneath Eric’s boot, which was firmly pressing him down on the rocky surface.

  “Graham,” Eric said urgently, “we need you to help us. You must use Pooky to link up with Cosmos so we can open the portal and go back home.”

  “Send you back to Earth?” cried Reeper. “Never! I won’t help you. I’ve got a much larger tank of oxygen than you. So when yours runs out, I’ll get Pooky off you and I’ll be gone while you are stuck here forever. By the time I come back, I doubt you’ll cause me any trouble.”

  Even though she knew she didn’t have much air left, Annie bravely spoke up:

  “Why do you hate everyone so much?” she asked him. “Why do you want to destroy everything?”

  “Why do I hate everyone, little girl?” asked Reeper. “Because everyone hates me, that’s why. Since I was thrown out of the Order of Science to Benefit Humanity all those years ago, nothing—nothing—has gone right for me. It’s been darkness and despair all this time. And now, at last, I’m calling the shots.”

  “No, you’re not,” said George. Pooky had stopped wriggling and was now snuggled up in his hands, as though about to fall asleep. His red eyes no longer glowed with menace. Instead, they had turned a dim shade of yellow. “You’re just sad and bitter. And even if you leave us here and we never go home, it won’t bring you any happiness. It won’t gain you any friends or make you any smarter. You’ll
just be alone, with your stupid hamster.”

  Pooky squeaked indignantly.

  “Sorry, Pooky…” George was growing almost fond of the small furry computer. “Anyway,” he added, “you knew what would happen if you broke the rules of the order. It says in the oath.”

  “Ah, yes,” said Reeper dreamily. “The oath. It seems such a long, long time ago. I’d forgotten about that quaint piece of nonsense. How does it go…?”

  Annie started to speak, but George shushed her. “No, Annie,” he said. “Save your air. It goes like this.” He recited the oath he had taken to join the order, the very first time he had met Eric.

  “I swear to use my scientific knowledge for the good of Humanity.

  “I promise never to harm any person in my search for enlightenment.

  “I shall be courageous and careful in my quest for greater knowledge about the mysteries that surround us.

  “I shall not use scientific knowledge for my own personal gain or give it to those who seek to destroy the wonderful Universe in which we live.

  “If I break this oath, may the beauty and wonder of the Universe forever remain hidden from me.

  “You broke the oath. That’s why it’s all gone wrong for you.”

  “Is that so?” said Reeper quietly. “And how did I come to break the oath? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Why would I do that when I knew what I stood to lose?”

  “I don’t know,” whispered Annie.

  “Then why don’t you ask your father?” he suggested, getting to his knees. Eric had removed his foot from his chest and turned away.

  “Dad?” Annie asked. “Dad?”

  “It was a long time ago,” muttered Eric. “And we were very young.”

  “What happened?” murmured Annie. She was starting to feel light-headed.

  “Why don’t you tell her?” said Reeper, getting to his feet. “Or shall I? No one is leaving here until this story is told.”

  “Graham and I,” said Eric slowly, “were students together. Our tutor was the greatest cosmologist who has ever lived. He wanted to find out how the Universe began. With him, Graham and I built the first Cosmos. Cosmos was very different from how he is today. Back then, he was huge—he took up the whole basement of a university building.”

  “Go on,” ordered Reeper, “or no one is going home. Ever.”

  “Those of us who used Cosmos or worked with him formed the early branch of the Order of Science. We realized what a powerful tool we had. We needed to be careful. Graham took the oath, and at first he and I worked together. But then Graham started to behave very strangely—”

  “I did not!” said Reeper angrily. “That is not true! You wouldn’t leave me alone. You followed me everywhere, always trying to get a look at my writing, so you could copy it and pass it off as your own. You wanted to publish my work as yours and take all the glory.”

  “No, Graham,” said Eric. “I didn’t. I wanted to work with you, but you wouldn’t let me. We knew you were hiding your research from other people, and we saw that you were becoming secretive. Our tutor asked me to keep an eye on you.”

  “Ohhh,” said Reeper, in surprise. “I didn’t know that.”

  “That’s why I followed you that night—the night you went to use Cosmos all by yourself. We had a rule, then, that no one person could operate Cosmos alone. But Graham did. He let himself into the university at night and that’s when I caught him.”

  “What was he trying to do?” asked George.

  “He was trying,” said Eric, “to use Cosmos to view the Big Bang itself. It was too dangerous. We just didn’t know what the effects of watching that kind of explosion—even via Cosmos, even from the other side of the portal—might have been. We’d talked about it, but our tutor had said no. Until we knew more about the early Universe—and about Cosmos—we were not to use him to investigate the Big Bang.”

  “Fools!” Reeper bleated. “You were all fools! We could have found the cornerstone of all knowledge! We could have seen what created the Universe! But you were too scared. I had to try it in secret. It was the only way. I had to know—what happened at the very beginning of everything.”

  “The risk was too great,” said Eric. “Remember, we had sworn to harm no person in our search for enlightenment. But I guessed that was what you were trying to do—witness the first few seconds of time itself. When I followed you that night…”

  Chapter 18

  It had been a cold, clear night in the ancient university town where Eric Bellis and Graham Reeper studied. The air crackled with frost and the wind bit through the thickest garments. They lived in the same college, with rooms overlooking a courtyard where the flagstones were so old that centuries of feet had worn them away. That night, the courtyard was silent, the perfect green grass turned deepest indigo by the brilliant moonlight beaming down through the velvet night sky. The clock in the tower struck eleven as Eric came in through the front gates, which were so strongly fortified, it was like entering a castle rather than a place of learning.

  “Good evening, Doctor Bellis,” a bowler-hatted porter said to Eric as he passed through the front dorm to pick up his mail. As Eric stood there, leafing through the envelopes, he caught the porter watching him. He looked up and smiled. “You haven’t dined in for a while, Doctor Bellis,” the porter commented. Fellows of this venerable institution had the right to eat off silver every night in the oak-paneled dining room, surrounded by portraits of scholars from centuries past.

  “It’s been a busy time,” said Eric. He tucked his mail into his battered old briefcase and wound his scarf more tightly around his neck. It was always freezing in the college, sometimes even colder than it was outside on the street. Eric rarely took off his scarf in winter. In his rooms it was so chilly that he slept wearing his tweed jacket over his pajamas, along with two pairs of socks and a woolly hat.

  “Haven’t seen that Doctor Reeper much lately either,” said the porter, shooting Eric a look. Eric reminded himself that the porters knew everything, saw everything, and heard everything. The reason he hadn’t been in college much lately was because he was trying to keep up with Reeper, who was very obviously attempting to give him the slip.

  “Is Doctor Reeper in this evening?” he asked casually.

  “He is,” said the porter heavily. “And funnily enough, he seemed very keen that you should know that. Something going on, Doctor Bellis?”

  Eric took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He was so tired. Constantly tailing Reeper as well as doing his own work was becoming exhausting.

  “Nothing to worry about,” he said firmly.

  “We’ve seen it all before, you know,” hinted the porter. “You start off friends but then you get into competition with each other. It never ends well.”

  Eric sighed. “Thank you,” he said, and walked across the main court. He slowly climbed the wooden staircase to his room and let himself in. Switching on the electric heater, he went over to the window.

  On the other side of the courtyard, he could see that Reeper’s light was still on. Eric wondered if he would get a full night’s sleep tonight or whether he would wake up every hour, worried that Reeper had left the college without him. He drew his curtains and sat down in an armchair. Just as he did so, the lightbulb went out, plunging his room into blackness. Eric just sat there for a few minutes, wondering if he could face brushing his teeth in his subzero bathroom. He stood up and, on instinct, peered through a chink in the curtains, just in time to see a dark figure slipping across the courtyard, casting a long shadow in the moonlight.

  Wearily, Eric put on an extra tweed jacket and left his room, carefully tailing Graham Reeper as he slipped away out of the college.

  Eric didn’t need to follow him too closely to know where Reeper was going, but he did want to prevent him from doing too much damage. The handlebars of Eric’s bicycle were covered in frost, and cycling was treacherous and slow on the icy roads. By the time he arrived at the university building w
here Cosmos was kept, his bare fingers were blue and numb with cold so he could hardly move them. Blowing on them, he fumbled with his set of keys and let himself in.

  “What did you find?” asked George, interrupting the story in his eagerness to know what Reeper had done.

  “He found me,” said Reeper, “on the brink of the greatest discovery in the history of knowledge! And then he ruined it! And blamed me afterward.”

  Eric’s suspicions had been correct. When he ran down the stairs to Cosmos’s basement, he had found Reeper attempting to use the computer to watch the Big Bang. The portal doorway was already there, but the door was still closed.

  “I had to stop him,” said Eric. “The conditions were so extreme at the beginning of the Universe—it was too hot even for hydrogen to form! It could have been so dangerous. I didn’t know for sure what was on the other side of the door, but I had to stop him from opening it.”

  “But didn’t you want to see?” asked George, agog. “Couldn’t you have taken a peek? Like from a long, long way away?”

  “You can’t view the Big Bang from a distance,” replied Eric. “Because it occurs everywhere. What he should have done is view it with a large redshift.”

  “A redshift!” exclaimed George. “Like at your party?”

  “Exactly! As the radiation emitted shortly after the Big Bang travels to us on Earth, it becomes much redder and less powerful,” explained Eric.

  “But that’s just what I was trying to do!” cried out Reeper. “If you had bothered to ask me, instead of bursting through the door and tackling me to the ground, I would have told you!”

  “Ahh,” said Eric slowly. Eric hadn’t, in fact, given Reeper a chance to explain what he was doing. Instead, he had run into the room where Cosmos was kept and thrown himself onto Reeper, who was standing near the portal doorway. In the tussle that followed, Eric had jabbed wildly with one flailing hand at Cosmos’s keyboard, in the hope of shutting down the portal. But Reeper had broken free from Eric and run over to the doorway, which he had wrenched open, only to find Eric’s blind strike at Cosmos’s keyboard had accidentally given Cosmos the command to move the portal location to somewhere very different.